A few minutes after I took this photo of speakers Charles Landry, right, and Rebecca Ryan, left, talking with attendees at the Creative Cities Summit today in Lexington, creativity paid off.
Lori Houlihan, drum major of Lexington’s March Madness Marching Band, asked Landry for advice on how the wacky community band could raise some money to cover expenses without damaging the group’s all-volunteer spirit.
The band had been the first of several Lexington musicians and groups to entertain at the conference. At the end of the opening reception Wednesday evening, as everyone was chatting, the ballroom doors swung open and the band marched into the lobby, started playing and led everyone in for dinner. Landry was so startled, he spilled his drink.
So when Houlihan asked Landry today for fund-raising advice, she said he reached for his wallet and handed her a $20 bill. “Then other people around us just started handing me money,” she said. “I got about $80 for the band.”